Michael Livingston

Last updated
Michael Livingston
Michael Livingston Florida Supercon 2016.jpg
Livingston at the Florida Supercon in 2016
Born Colorado, United States
OccupationProfessor
Novelist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Education
Genre History
Historical fiction
Fantasy
Notable works The Shards of Heaven
Website
www.michaellivingston.com

Michael Livingston is an American historian, a professor of medieval literature, and a historical fantasy novelist. His 2015 debut novel, The Shards of Heaven , was followed by two sequels.

Contents

Early life, education and career

Originally from Colorado, [1] Livingston has a B.A. in history from Baylor University, an M.A. in medieval studies from Western Michigan University, and both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester. [2] He has been a professor at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina since 2006. [1] [2] [3] In his academic life he wrote numerous articles on the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf , Chaucer, James Joyce and Robert Jordan. [4]

Television

Michael Livingston is the co-star on the Discovery Channel TV show Contact , in which he skeptically examines potential evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life and its impact on Earth. [5] [6] [7]

Writing

Livingston has published multiple academic works. [1] [3] He said in 2015, "one of the key bits of advice I ever received as a young novelist-to-be was to try to cut my teeth on writing short stories ... starting with short stories was vital to the development of my career". [8] Livingston's debut novel, The Shards of Heaven, was published by Tor Books in November 2015. [1] [3] [9] [10] Two sequels have subsequently appeared. [1]

Middle English translations

Academia

General nonfiction

Fiction

Short stories

  • Livingston, Michael (2005). "The Keeper Alone". L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. Galaxy Press. 21 (novelette). ISBN   978-1-59212-217-2. [1] [13]
  • Livingston, Michael (2005). "The Hand that Binds". Black Gate . 9 (short story). [1]
  • Livingston, Michael (2011). "Purging Cocytus". Black Gate. 15 (short story). [14]
  • Livingston, Michael (2015). "At the End of Babel". Tor.com (short story). [10] [15]
  • Livingston, Michael (2016). "The Temples of the Ark" (Shards of Heaven). Amazon Kindle (short story).

Livingston's 2011 collection Angels Among Other Things, self-published via e-book, consisted of nine short stories, including "The Keeper Alone" and "At the End of Babel". [16]

Novels

Anthologies edited

Related Research Articles

Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work Cædmon's Hymn is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English, as it appears in an 8th-century copy of Bede's text, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Poetry written in the mid 12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English. Adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th-century work, and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Brunanburh</span> Part of the Viking invasions of England

The Battle of Brunanburh was fought in 937 between Æthelstan, King of England, and an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scotland; and Owain, King of Strathclyde. The battle is sometimes cited as the point of origin for English national identity: historians such as Michael Livingston argue that "the men who fought and died on that field forged a political map of the future that remains, arguably making the Battle of Brunanburh one of the most significant battles in the long history not just of England, but of the whole of the British Isles."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Shippey</span> British medievalist (born 1943)

Thomas Alan Shippey is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien about whom he has written several books and many scholarly papers. His book The Road to Middle-Earth has been called "the single best thing written on Tolkien".

Kate Elliott is the pen name of American fantasy and science fiction writer Alis A. Rasmussen.

Ælfwynn was the ruler of Mercia as the 'Second Lady of the Mercians' for a few months in 918, following her mother's death on 12 June 918. She was the daughter of Æthelred and Æthelflæd, the rulers of Mercia. Her accession was the only example of rule passing from one woman to another in the early medieval period in the British Isles. Manuscript C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states: "Here also the daughter of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was deprived of all control in Mercia, and was led into Wessex three weeks before Christmas; she was called Ælfwynn." ASC C dates Æthelflæd's death as 12 June 918 and Ælfwynn's deposition to December 919, but most historians revise the deposition to 918. George Molyneux gives the period of Ælfwynn's power as "six or eighteen months". ASC C is the only version of the Chronicle to mention Ælfwynn. Other versions reflect a West Saxon view point and ASC A states that Edward took power in Mercia immediately after Æthelflæd's death, but ASC C includes entries from a lost version called the 'Mercian Chronicle'.

Judith Tarr is an American fantasy and science fiction author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Wells</span> American speculative fiction writer (born 1964)

Martha Wells is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has published a number of fantasy novels, young adult novels, media tie-ins, short stories, and nonfiction essays on fantasy and science fiction subjects. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages. Wells has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards for her science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries. She is also known for her fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura. Wells is praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Dahvana Headley</span> American author

Maria Dahvana Headley is an American novelist, memoirist, editor, translator, poet, and playwright. She is a New York Times-bestselling author as well as editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Tchaikovsky</span> British fantasy and science fiction author

Adrian Czajkowski is a British fantasy and science fiction author. He is best known for his series Shadows of the Apt, and for his Hugo Award-winning Children of Time series.

<i>Armes Prydein</i> 10th-century Welsh prophetic poem

Armes Prydein is an early 10th-century Welsh prophetic poem from the Book of Taliesin.

George Mann is a British author and editor, primarily in genre fiction, and is best known for his alternate history detective novel series Newbury and Hobbes (2008-2019) and The Ghosts action science fiction noir novels (2010-2017), a book series set in the same universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Brunanburh (poem)</span> Old English poem

The "Battle of Brunanburh" is an Old English poem. It is preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England which was kept from the late ninth to the mid-twelfth century. The poem records the Battle of Brunanburh, a battle fought in 937 between an English army and a combined army of Scots, Vikings, and Britons. The battle resulted in an English victory, celebrated by the poem in style and language like that of traditional Old English battle poetry. The poem is notable because of those traditional elements and has been praised for its authentic tone, but it is also remarkable for its fiercely nationalistic tone, which documents the development of a unified England ruled by the House of Wessex.

Nicholas Howe (1953–2006) was an American scholar of Old English literature and culture, whose Migration and Mythmaking in Anglo-Saxon England (1989) was an important contribution to the study of Old English literature and historiography.

This is a list of the published works of Aliette de Bodard.

Helen Damico was a Greek-born American scholar of Old English and Old English literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trident of Poseidon</span> Weapon used by Poseidon/Neptune

The trident of Poseidon and his Roman equivalent, Neptune, has been their traditional divine attribute in many ancient depictions. Poseidon's trident was crafted by the Cyclopes.

<i>The Shards of Heaven</i> 2015 historical fantasy novel by Michael Livingston

The Shards of Heaven is a 2015 historical fantasy debut novel by Michael Livingston. It chronicles Octavian's war against Mark Antony and Cleopatra, seen from the perspective of the minor historical figures who surround them.

Roberta Frank is an American philologist specializing in Old English and Old Norse language and literature. She is the Marie Borroff Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University.

<i>The Gates of Hell</i> (Livingston novel)

The Gates of Hell is a 2016 historical fantasy novel by Michael Livingston. The sequel to The Shards of Heaven, it explores the aftermath of the fall of Alexandria to Octavian, and the continued struggles of Juba and Cleopatra Selene.

Godfrid Storms was a Dutch professor of Old and Middle English Literature at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. He published his seminal dissertation on Anglo-Saxon charms in 1948, superseding a work that had stood as the authority for forty years, before obtaining his professorship there in 1956. Among his many other works were articles on Beowulf and the Sutton Hoo ship-burial.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Weimer, Paul (November 24, 2015). "Interview: Michael Livingston on His Secret Historical Fantasy The Shards of Heaven". SF Signal . Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Faculty & Staff: Michael Livingston". The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Golomb, Jason (November 18, 2015). "The Shards of Heaven: Successful debut of Roman-Era historical fantasy mash-up". FantasyLiterature.com. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  4. "Michael Livington – About" . Retrieved November 13, 2019 via michaellivingston.com.
  5. Nordyke, Kimberly (July 22, 2019). "Discovery Channel Looks for Proof of Alien Contact on Earth in New Series". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  6. Stubby the Rocket (July 22, 2019). "Discovery Channel Sending Authors Myke Cole and Michael Livingston to Analyze Evidence of Alien Contact". Tor.com . Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  7. "Profile: Dr. Michael Livingston PhD". Discovery. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  8. Livingston, Michael (November 24, 2015). "Transitioning from Short Story to Novel". Black Gate . Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Review: The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston". Kirkus Reviews . September 3, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  11. George, Jodi-Anne (2010). "Notes". Beowulf. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 161. ISBN   978-1-40399-128-7.
  12. Tor.com (2022-02-15). "Announcing Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan, With a Letter From the Author". Tor.com. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  13. "Writer Winners: Volume 21, 2005". Writers of the Future . Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  14. "Black Gate #15 Complete Table of Contents". Black Gate. April 26, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  15. Livingston, Michael (July 1, 2015). "At the End of Babel". Tor.com. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  16. Livingston, Michael (November 20, 2011). "Angels Among Other Things: Story Collection Released on Kindle". MichaelLivingston.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  17. "The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 2007". Locus . Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  18. "Review: Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 30, 2016.